ARTICLE XV.

Of Christ alone without Sin.

Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things (sin only except) from which he was clearly void both in his flesh and in spirit. He came to be a Lamb without spot, who, by sacrifice of himself once made, should take away the sins of the World: and sin, as St. John saith, was not in him. But all we the rest (although baptized and born again in Christ) per offend in many things; and if we sap we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

THIS

IIS Article relates to the former, and is put here as another foundation against all works of supererogation : for that doctrine, with the consequences of it, having given the first occasion to the Reformation, it was thought necessary to overthrow it entirely: and because the perfection of the saints must be supposed, before their supererogating can be thought on, that was therefore here opposed.

That Christ was holy, without spot and blemish, harmless, Heb. vii. undefiled, and separate from sinners; that there was no guile 26. in his mouth; that he never did amiss, but went about always doing good, and was as a lamb without spot, is so oft affirmed 1 Pet. i. 19. in the New Testament, that it can admit of no debate. This was not only true in his rational powers, the superior part called the Spirit, in opposition to the lower part, but also in those appetites and affections that arise from our bodies, and from the union of our souls to them, called the Flesh. For though in these Christ, having the human nature truly in him, had the appetites of hunger in him, yet the devil could not tempt him by that to distrust God, or to desire a miraculous supply sooner than was fitting: he overcame even that necessary appetite, whensoever there was an occasion given him to do the will of his heavenly Father: he had also John iv. 34. in him the aversions to pain and suffering, and the horror at a violent and ignominious death, which are planted in our natures: and in this it was natural to him to wish and to pray that the cup might pass from him. But in this his purity appeared the most eminently, that though he felt the weight

XV.

ART. of his nature to a vast degree, he did, notwithstanding that, limit and conquer it so entirely, that he resigned himself absolutely to his Father's will: Not my will, but thy will be done.

Besides all that has been already said upon the former Articles, to prove that some taint and degree of the original corruption remains in all men; the peculiar character of Christ's holiness so oft repeated, looks plainly to be a distinction proper to him, and to him only. We are called upon to follow him, to learn of him, and to imitate him without restriction; whereas we are required to 1 Cor. xi.1.follow the Apostles, only as they were the followers of Christ: 1 Pet. i. 15. and though we are commanded to be holy as he was holy in all manner of conversation; that does no more prove that any man can arrive at that pitch, than our being comMatt. v. 48. manded to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, will prove that we may become as perfect as God is: the importance of these words being only this, that we ought in all things to make God and Christ our patterns; and that we ought to endeavour to imitate and resemble them. all we can.

There seems to be a particular design in the contexture and writing of the Scriptures, to represent to us some of the failings of the best men: for though Zacharias and Luke i. 6. Elizabeth are said to have been blameless, that must only

Ver. 20.

be meant of the exterior and visible part of their conversation, that it was free from blame, and of their being accepted of God; but that is not to be carried to import a sinless purity before God: for we find the same Zachary guilty of misbelieving the message of the Angel to him, to such a degree, that he was punished for it with a dumbness of above nine months continuance. Perhaps the Virgin's question to the Angel had nothing blameworthy in it but our Saviour's answers to her, both Luke ii. 49. when she came to him in the Temple, when he was twelve years old, and more particularly when she moved him, at John ii. 4. the marriage in Cana, to furnish them with wine, look like a reprimand. The contentions among the Apostles

about the preeminence, and in particular the ambition of Matt. xx. James and John, cannot be excused. St. Peter's dis20, 24. simulation at Antioch in the judaizing controversy, and 12, 13, 14. the sharp contention that happened between Paul and Acts xv. 39. Barnabas, are recorded in Scripture, and they are both

Gal. ii. 11,

characters of the sincerity of those who penned them, and likewise marks of the frailties of human nature, even in its greatest elevation, and with its highest advantages. So that all the high characters that are given of the best men,

XV.

are to be understood either comparatively to others whom ART. they exceeded, or with relation to their outward actions, and the visible parts of their life: or they are to be meant of their zeal and sincerity, which is valued and accepted of God; and, as it was to Abraham, is imputed to them for righteousness.

Yet this is not to be abused by any to be an encouragement to live in sin; for we may carry this purity and perfection certainly very far, by the grace of God. In every sin that we commit we do plainly perceive, that we do it with so much freedom, that we might not have done it; here is still just matter for humiliation and repentance. By this doctrine our Church intends only to repress the pride of vainglorious and hypocritical men, and to strike at the root of that filthy merchandise that has been brought into the house of God, under the pretence of the perfection, and even the over-doing or supererogating of the saints.

ARTICLE XVI.

Of Sin after Baptism.

Not every deadly sin willingly committed after Bap tism is the sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism, After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the grace of God we may arise again and amend our Lives. And therefore they are to be condemned, which say they can no more sin as long as thep live here, or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent.

THIS

HIS Article, as it relates to the sect of the Novatians of old, so it is probable it was made a part of our doctrine, upon the account of some of the enthusiasts, who at that time, as well as some do in our days, might boast their perfection, and join with that part of the character of a Pharisee, this other of an unreasonable rigour of censure and punishment against offenders. By deadly sin in the Article, we are not to understand such sins as in the Church of Rome are called mortal, in opposition to others that are venial: as if some sins, though offences against God, and violations of his law, could be of their own nature such slight things, that they deserved only temporal punishment, and were to be expiated by some piece of penance or devotion, or the communication of the merits of others. The Scripture no where teaches us to think so slightly of the majesty of God, or of his Law. Gal. iii. 10. There is a curse upon every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them: and the same curse must have been on us all, if Christ had not redeemed us from it: The wages of sin is death. And St. James asserts, that there is such a complication of all the precepts of the Law of God, both with one another, Jam. ii. 10, and with the authority of the Lawgiver, that he who offends in one point is guilty of all. So since God has in his word given us such dreadful apprehensions of his wrath, and of the guilt of sin, we dare not soften these to a degree below the majesty of the eternal God, and the dignity of his most holy laws. But, after all, we are far

11.

from the conceit of the Stoics, who made all sins alike. ART. We acknowledge that some sins of ignorance and infirmity may consist with a state of grace; which is either quite destroyed, or at least much eclipsed and clouded by other sins, that are more heinous in their nature, and more deliberately gone about. It is in this sense that the word deadly sin is to be understood in the Article: for though in the strictness of justice every sin is deadly, yet in the dispensation of the Gospel, those sins are only deadly, that do deeply wound the conscience, and that drive away grace.

Another term in the Article needs also to be a little explained; the sin against the Holy Ghost; concerning which, since there is so severe a sentence pronounced by Christ, it is necessary that it be rightly understood; and that can only be done by considering the occasion of those words, as well as the words themselves. Christ wrought such miracles in the sight of his enemies, that when there was no room left for any other cavil, they betook themselves to that, that he did not cast out devils but by Beelze- Matt. xii. bub, the prince of devils. And this was the occasion that 24, 31. led our Saviour to speak of the sin or blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. It was their rejecting the clearest evidence that God could give to prove any thing by: the power by which those miracles were wrought, and which was afterwards communicated to the Apostles, is called through the whole New Testament, the Holy Ghost. By which is not to be meant here the third person of the Trinity, but the wonderful effusion of those extraordinary gifts and powers that were then communicated, the economy and dispensation of which is said to be derived from that one Spirit. This was the utmost proof that could be given of truth: and when men set themselves to blaspheme this, and to ascribe the works of Christ to a collusion with the devil, they did thereby so wilfully oppose God, and reproach his power, they did so stifle their own conviction, and set themselves against the conviction of others, that nothing could be done farther for their conviction; this being the highest degree of evidence and proof: and this was so high an indignity to God, when he descended so far to satisfy their scruples, that it was not to be pardoned; as their impenitence and incredulity was so obstinate as not to be overcome.

Upon this occasion given, our Saviour makes a difference between their blaspheming him, and, instead of owning him to be the Messias, calling him a deceiver, a glutton, and a wine-bibber; of which, upon hearing his